My name is @innocent_baby_maniac. This is my ITP/IYP story. In the distant past, IBM and Dawko (no relation) lived together. They ran a small lab where they would make and sell inventions, mostly to travellers and wannabe heroes who were passing by. Their rival company supplied dangerous weapons to the same people, tainting and warping their minds with ideas of violence as, given any excuse to do so, humans love to kill... Dawko was ambitious. This never worried IBM as they believed that their friend's ambition could only ever be a force for good. They were perhaps too hopeful. They were more emotional and often easily persuaded to follow his plans to the letter. But when things were too obviously dangerous or capable of going south quickly, they always knew better. "WHY WOULD YOU BUY FROM THEM?! THEY'RE EVIL!" "...Trust me friend, we can only benefit from thi-" "HOW CAN I TRUST YOU?! THAT THING COULD BE A DEATH MACHINE FOR ALL WE KNOW!" "..You won't trust your dearest friend? We've known each other for.. what? 10? 15 years? And you'd turn on me this easily." "...I guess- I guess maybe I misjudged your decision." "Come on, I've never led you astray before. You can always count on me!" "Sure." "How about you come see it? It's some kind of machine which induces a sleep-like state on a person I think. You just have to lay in it and it feels like you're floating in a void, completely numb." "What kind of traveller would use this kind of machine..?" As the two walked through their lab, passing security cameras which were splashed with oil and failed inventions, IBM noted to themself the amount of plans stuck to the boards on the walls. Most of Dawko's had been scrapped as they were either too extravagant or just straight-up stolen. Some were too dangerous, like his idea to invent a replica of Thor's hammer which used a chip in the wielder's brain to follow the commands Thor would typically give using only his mind. Others were too confusing, like creating a device that could translate any language into the made-up childhood language of two random siblings in the world. Like, how would they even source the language? What siblings would it be? What would the use be? IBM shrugged the thought away as Dawko tapped his ID card on the scanner beside the door. The metal door slid open smoothly, revealing Dawko's private area of the lab. There were blinking lights and steam surrounding the two of them, the sensory overload being worse than that of Funkydog's hair (I'm sorry, I had too- They aren't even relevant, I just needed to make the reference-). Dawko led IBM to a large rectangular device which was laid out on the floor. "Who are you going to test it on? Y'know, to make sure it works." "I have a couple of people in mind." "Who?" "Have a nice sleep my friend..." That was the last thing they heard before it all went black. After a few.. months? Years? They couldn't tell... After an unspecified amount of time, IBM became vaguely aware of another presence alongside them in this sleep-like state. Dawko was right, it did feel like they were floating in a void. He had a feeling he knew who the other presence was but he couldn't open his eyes to see. Eventually, he awoke. "Woah-! Where.. Where am I..?" "Phew.. I'm glad that woke you up." "Who on Earth are you-?! Good gracious.. my head is pounding beyond belief..!" Standing over him was a strange man. He had two different coloured eyes, one green and one blue. He was wearing a brown striped waistcoat over a red checked shirt paired with a white tie. His ears were pointed and his messily combed brown hair had some sort of golden shiny accessories in it. They were just pins or something, right..? The odd man's hands were bound with blood-stained bandages but the blood looked dry. It wasn't brown though. Still recent... They themself felt different. There was no way this man would typically tower over them as much as he did, no matter how short they'd been before falling asleep. They could feel a change in their body too. They lifted their hand to their face. "Oh lord..." "Don't panic. Your art style just changed whilst you were asleep." "My..?" "Oh! Sorry, I have a habit of- Nevermind..." IBM turned back to look at the machine but found that he could no longer see it. He turned back to find that the strange man had vanished. He shivered. What.. What was that..? And so became the tale of a coward. Easily followed through the comments. Even more easily followed in my follow-up project on . 's side will be on .
